USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > San Francisco, a history of the Pacific coast metropolis, Volume I > Part 14
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It was a feeble beginning from which good results commercially might have followed in later years even if the uncommercial Californians had remained in possession of the territory, but such an outcome would hardly be inferred from its excessively slow development and its utter subordination to Monterey, which re- mained the place of most importance until the gold rush made it imperative for the shipping which was finding its way to the coast to seek a more convenient and safer harbor. Monterey served the purposes of the traders who visited California to obtain cargoes of hides and tallow. In many respects it suited them better than Yerba Buena. The latter might have superior attractions for captains who laid stress on security, but even they were ready to subordinate that consideration in order to get nearer to the source of supply of the merchandize they were seeking, and closer to the population which was ready to exchange its rude products for the manufactured articles and the luxuries brought to the coast by the trading ships.
Monterey the Chief Port
CHAPTER XIV
EARLY TRADING TROUBLES OF THE CALIFORNIANS
SPANISH AND MEXICAN ATTEMPTS TO REPRESS TRADING-SMUGGLING POPULARLY AP- PROVED-THE FUR TRADE-SPAIN SURRENDERS NORTHWEST COAST-VISITS OF YAN- KEE SHIPS TO CALIFORNIA-THE FORT ROSS ESTABLISHMENT-AN AMICABLE AR- RANGEMENT WITH THE RUSSIANS-SUTTER AND VALLEJO QUARREL-THE TRADE IN HIDES AND TALLOW-THE WHALERS AND THE WHALING INDUSTRY-HONOLULU A RIVAL OF SAN FRANCISCO-FIRST MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENT IN YERBA BUENA- CONTINUED IMPORTANCE OF MONTEREY-SAN FRANCISCO'S FIRST PUBLIC IMPROVE- MENT-SEVENTY YEARS OF INACTIVITY.
CI
N THESE days of intense commercialism when every op- portunity to engage in enterprise is eagerly seized, and when men devote their thoughts to creating opportunities to extend the field of their energies, it is almost impos- sible to comprehend the temperament which shrunk from F SEAL OF OF SA FR SC exertion and actually placed obstacles in the way of de- velopment. The inertia of the occupants of the territory, which is now one of the most prosperous states of the American Union, was a bad thing in its way, but its consequences would not have been so fatal to advancement as they proved to be, if the active factor of direct interference had not supplemented the enervating effects of a system which succeeded in crushing out ambition in every country in which it was tried.
The story of trade repression in California during the first half of the nine- teenth century is interesting, amusing and instructive. It is amusing because it illustrates to the fullest extent the futility of attempts to interfere with the gratifi- cation of the desires of a people when the necessary force to compel compliance with regulations is lacking. It is instructive because when properly viewed it brings out plainly the fact that high tariffs, and even prohibitions of intercourse do not promote a domestic industry unless the desire for its creation is existent. The Californians enjoyed all the advantages natural and artificial that are consid- ered the chief factors in the promotion of production. They had raw materials in abundance for manufacturing purposes, and the natural protection which distance from established manufacturing and producing centers affords, and in addition they had tariffs which, had the disposition existed to make them so, would have proved prohibitory to the introduction of foreign products.
But the desire to exclude did not exist. On the contrary there was a decided propensity to encourage the foreigner to bring his wares, which brought about a condition that can be best described by the paradoxical assertion that the Califor-
Trading Instinct Repressed
Tariffs Fail to Promote Industry
Foreign Goods Acceptable
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nians succeeded in legalizing illegality. They did not merely elevate smuggling into a fine art, they acutally accomplished the extraordinary feat of converting the officials whose duty it was to exercise repressive and restrictive authority into ac- tive supporters and defenders of a trade which, although contraband, was carried on without attempts at secrecy, and which was supported by public sentiment, not excluding that of officials.
Perhaps this is less surprising than the fact already alluded to that the native Californians made no opposition to the establishment of foreigners in their midst as traders. They may have felt some slight pangs of jealousy when they observed Captain N. A. Richardson erecting a house in Yerba Buena, the first put up in that place, but they were assuaged by the feeling that after all he was useful to them, as he operated two schooners for their benefit, and thus enabled them to get their hides and tallow to a place where they could be sold to the skippers of the trading ships.
Richardson's advent may not have been complacently regarded by the mission- aries but they were not able to overlook the fact that he filled a want which they were unable to supply by becoming a common carrier on the bay, and that he helped to facilitate that trade with the outside world by which they obtained ar- ticles that contributed to their comfort, and other things absolutely indispensable, if agriculture was to be pursued even in the rudest fashion.
But years before Richardson came on the scene enterprising traders had found their way to the coast and were buying the hides and tallow which were the only articles of consequence exported by the Californians. Some valuable furs were obtained by the exertions of intruders who were not unwilling to do the work nec- essary to secure them. Spain did not entirely disregard this valuable trade. The desire to secure its benefits was sufficiently pronounced, but the same causes which induced the Spanish explorers to shun the coast north of San Francisco harbor on account of its fogs and their assumed discomforts prevented its development. If the seals and other fur bearing creatures had presented themselves for capture, or had it been possible to take them as easily as cattle running on the hills of Cali- fornia, there might have been as lively a trade in furs as in hides and tallow.
The fur trade of the coast, even that of parts remote from San Francisco bay, has been linked with the destinies of the Pacific coast metropolis from the time that Captain Cook's men in 1778 obtained from the natives at Nootka a number of skins of the sea otter which they carried to Canton and sold at the high price of $120 a piece. The Russians and British had been taking skins for years, but it remained for the publication of the account of Cook's voyages in 1784 to create an almost universal interest in the fur trade. Spain awakened to the possibility of profit being derived from her American possessions through this industry and in 1786 a monopoly was projected which, however, was soon abandoned.
Russian Activity on Coast
In 1788 Martinez, who had just made a supply trip to the coast, wrote from Monterey describing the intentions of the Russians, and urging Spain to extend her claims to Nootka. By doing so, he asserted, Spain would establish herself on the coast from Nootka to the port of San Francisco. The Viceroy Florez sent him to Nootka, where he arrived in May, 1789, and discovered that an American vessel, the "Columbia," and an English brig, the "Iphigenia," sailing under Portuguese colors were ahead of him. He made no attempt to molest the American, but seized the "Iphigenia" and her consort as poachers on Spanish possessions. There was
No Objection to Foreign Traders
Hide and Tallow Trade
The Fur Trade
1
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SAN FRANCISCO IN 1849 From a sketch
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SAN FRANCISCO IN 1846, AT THE TIME OF THE OCCUPATION. IT WAS THEN KNOWN AS YERBA BUENA
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SAN FRANCISCO
much bluster over the seizure but in the end Spain made restitution and a treaty was concluded October 28, 1790, by which Spain yielded claim of exclusive sov- ereignty to the northwest coast, but obtained from her adversary an agreement not to navigate or fish within ten leagues of any part of the coast occupied by Spain.
Despite this agreement, which implied the determination of Spain to exclude foreigners from the privilege of fishing on the coast, Americans and Russians en- gaged in otter hunting expeditions from Trinidad bay to Todas Santos islands and even ventured within the estuary of San Francisco. In these adventures the Russians furnished the hunters and Americans the equipment of the vessels. The officials of the Russian American Company viewed these arrangements with dis- pleasure, and one of the objects of Rezanoff's visit to California in 1806 was to investigate the possibility of ousting the Bostonians from what was already re- garded as a profitable trade. In a report made by him to the government he ad- vised the building of a war brig to drive the Americans from California waters unless they procured their supplies from the factories in Siberia. He had learned that the Spanish were ready to trade surreptitiously with the Yankees, and that the latter were receiving in exchange for what he characterized as trifles valuable otter skins.
The first Boston captain to visit the coast was Ebenezer Dow in a vessel called the "Otter." He touched at Monterey October 29, 1796, but does not appear to have visited California with the intention of engaging in unlawful trade, although other American vessels did, and very soon they beset the padres, whose necessities were numerous, with great temptations. The commandante on the occasion of these visits interposed few obstacles. If he was disposed to be captious his attitude was soon changed by a bribe; the padres usually succumbed to the desire for use- ful articles which they were able to pay for with otter skins, for which they had no conceivable use in a climate like that of California.
Rezanoff's efforts to head off the Bostonians proved unavailing, but out of his visit to California came an understanding between the Russians and Spain which resulted in gaining for the former a foothold near the port of San Francisco from which they were not dislodged for many years. The anxiety of the Spaniards to prevent Americans effecting a settlement on the "Columbia" caused them to receive with favor a proposition from the Russian American Company to assist in frustrat- ing such a purpose, and thus began the advance southward toward San Francisco, which point Rezanoff had advocated as the boundary line between the Russian and Spanish possessions on the Pacific coast.
The encroachment was not completed in a day. Kuskoff did not reach Bodega bay until March, 1811. A year later he repeated his visit, this time in force, and on September 10th, at a point 18 miles north of Bodega, on a bluff 100 feet above sea level, Ross was established. It was fortified with a battery of ten guns, and manned by 95 Russians, and a party of Aleuts who were probably brought along to assist in otter taking rather than to help defend the position which was never seri- ously endangered by the supine Californians.
Meanwhile, despite the proximity of the Russians, and their desire to shut out the Yankees, one of the latter appears to have been able to do a brisk business with the Californians and perhaps there were others. That will be inferred from the fact that Jose Sevilla, who was made coast guard of California, alleged in a report that it was the custom of English vessels to anchor at Santa Catarina islands,
Jealous of the Yankees
First Boston Trader
Efforts to Head Off Americans
Russian Encroach- ments
A Shrewd Yankee Skipper
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ten leagues from the coast, and there exchange China and East Indian goods for otter skins and cattle. Sevilla appears to have been in error so far as the nation- ality of the vessels was concerned, and was probably deceived by the fact that their crews spoke English; but he made no mistake when he asserted that the officials connived at this illicit trade, for all he said was amply supported by state- ments made in a letter by Captain George Washington Eayrs, of the "Mercury" of Boston, written on the 7th of February, 1814. In that document the captain tells of the arrangements made with the head people and the "Pardres" who en- treated him to bring them many articles which they sorely needed, and could not obtain from the continent. As the letter was accompanied by several orders of the padres making the requests, the captain's statement must be accepted as fully corroborated.
Trading with the Padres
About the time that Eayrs was dealing with the padres and driving successful trades with the rancheros, the Spanish home government was directing Viceroy Calleja to take steps to get rid of the Russians whose proximity was creating great uneasiness. The viceroy did not deem precipitancy prudent, but he passed on his orders to Governor Jose Arguello, who in the early part of 1815 notified Kuskoff that the Russian post at Fort Ross must be abandoned. Kuskoff visited San Fran- cisco and tried to convince the Spanish authorities that the presence of his country- men in the neighborhood did not menace their possessions, and that Russia made no claim to territory south of the Strait of Fuca. There was considerable palaver- ing during three or four ensuing years and finally in 1820 the Russian American Company through its representative announced that it would abandon the settle- ment which caused the Spaniards so much apprehension, and dismiss all ideas of obtaining another site if by this sacrifice the privilege of a permanent trade with California could be gained.
Russians Permitted to Hunt
This proposal, like other negotiations of the Spanish at this particular period does not appear to have been formally acted upon, but a few years later under the Mexican Governor Arguello an agreement was entered into by which the Russian American Company was permitted to hunt otter on shares with Califor- nians, probably a euphemistic wording of an arrangement by which the fact that an improper payment by the Russians for the privilege was concealed. Arguello, however, held unusually liberal views on the subject of trade, and it is not improb- able that he acted in violation of tradition because he believed the result would be beneficial to California. His complacency toward the Russians did not prevent his entering into a contract with an English house in December, 1823, by which the company was obligated to take all the hides and tallow produced in the province, at a stipulated price, during a period of three years.
This arrangement between McCulloch, Hartwell & Co., the English firm re- ferred to and the toleration accorded to the Hudson Bay Company, whose relations with the Californians were always friendly, probably explains the belief enter- tained by the British in the province, and the people in Downing street, that in certain contingencies California would gladly have placed herself under the pro- tection of Great Britain. Certainly color was lent to the impression by a privilege accorded to the Hudson Bay Company in 1841 by Alvarado, by which its hunters were permitted to operate along the Sacramento. This concession called forth an angry letter from Sutter, a foreigner, who had established himself in the region where the British proposed to operate after assuming citizenship which enabled him to secure a large tract of land.
Englishmen Secure a Monopoly
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Sutter's letter fell into the hands of Vallejo, who used it to injure the writer, whom he charged with having assumed a title which did not belong to him, and also accused him of having made war on Indians in his neighborhood, and of selling into servitude the children who were made orphans by the killing of their parents. Sutter's name appears very frequently in California history, and not always in a manner reflecting luster upon it. His operations, however, did not closely touch San Francisco. The nearest they came to doing so grew out of his attempt to secure the property of the Russian establishment at Fort Ross, which Vallejo in a letter to Mexico dated December 12, 1841, said was sold to Sutter, a transaction which, had it stood, would have greatly increased his prestige and perhaps might have materially influenced the course of affairs which subsequently resulted in American occupation.
The hide and tallow business which under Spanish rule had been wholly con- fined to government vessels excepting that which was illicitly carried on, when the Mexicans administered the affairs of the country was distributed more generally and was shared by Americans. After the exclusive contract with McCulloch, Hart- well & Co. had expired, several Boston concerns came on the scene and were per- mitted to buy freely. The trade was of considerable consequence. In 1826 there were at least 200,000 head of cattle in California. At the private ranches there was an annual slaughter, but the missionaries did their killing weekly. The hides when not sold in their green state were dried. The tallow was tried out and run into bags of bullock skin, which held twenty-five pounds each. No very exact figures of the extent of the exports of these two commodities, hides and tallow, exist, but after secularization became a certainty, large numbers of cattle were killed for their hides. Twenty thousand dollars worth were sold by the San Luis Obispo mission, and the money was used to purchase goods which were distributed among the In- dians. At San Gabriel, whose herds numbered 100,000 head, the cattle were killed where found, and some of the valleys were covered with putrescent masses, no effort being made to secure the tallow.
The wholesale slaughtering which followed the disestablishment of the mis- sions was exceptional, but as early as 1784 it had been found necessary to reduce the number of cattle at the San Francisco presidio. Between 1805 and 1810, as already stated, the devastation resulting from horses running at large was so great that a campaign was carried on which got rid of them by tens of thousands. Usu- ally after the rodeos, the annual rounding up of stock for the purpose of branding and separating and distributing the cattle among their owners, there was a slaughter the extent of which was determined by agreement. It necessarily caused a great deal of offal, for the consumption of which scores of dogs were kept by the ranch- eros. It was no unusual thing for one of the lords of the soil to be attended by a train of dogs half a mile long. How they were fed at other times than at these annual killings we have no specific records, but in a country where when the horses became too numerous they were driven over cliffs to kill them the canine prob- ably never suffered even if his owner at times experienced privations because he was too lazy to adjust matters so that he might have a steady supply of meat.
One of the first things to attract the attention of Americans to the importance of the harbor of San Francisco was the practice of the whalers of wintering in the Hawaiian islands. The latter prospered greatly in consequence of these visits and the whalers were able to secure the supplies they needed from there much
Sutter Quar- rels with Vallejo
Importance of Hide and Tallow Trade
Wholesale Slanghter After Secu- larization
Whaling and Whalers
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more advantageously than they could have obtained them in California. At that time, however, the manifest destiny idea was fermenting in the American mind, and it took a form which differed greatly from that which held possession in later years. The whalers were convinced that their interests would be subserved, and those of the country as well, by securing possession of a port like San Francisco, and they so managed to impress the authorities in Washington, that official cogni- zance was taken of the matter. Whaling was then an industry of great importance, and those engaged in it by reason of their wealth and enterprise commanded a great deal of influence and by their efforts some of the sentiment which later resulted in acquisition was created, and helped to divert attention from the true motives of those who were bent on seizing California.
No Interest in Fisheries
Although the people of remote New Bedford were alive to the value of the whaling trade the Californians gave it no thought. After the time that one of the Spanish navigators had pointed out the desirability of occupying the Sandwich islands to prevent any foreigner from doing so no one in Spain or Mexico both- ered about the matter and the predicted came to pass. In 1820 the foreigner in the shape of seven missionaries from New England planted himself in the islands, and in the fullness of time they were attached to the United States. The mis- sionaries were followed by enterprising men whose energies soon accomplished what the Spaniard who settled on the shores of the Bay of San Francisco only talked of doing. In 1827 a ship yard was started in Honolulu by Americans, and in 1836 a newspaper was published by them called "The Sandwich Island Gazette," and from that time on despite guarantees of autonomy and various governmental experiments the group was practically American.
While the enterprising Yankees were creating a rival port in the tropic seas the Californians were pursuing a course calculated to make trade impossible. In- stead of welcoming the whalers, they actually placed restrictions on the quantity of provisions that might be sold to them. Despite the fact that they were in sore need of many manufactured articles which the whalers would gladly have brought to them they limited the amount that a ship might sell to $400. At Honolulu, of course, the whaler was permitted to buy all that the islanders had to sell, and in 1844 the annual trade of that port with the adventurous fishermen was fully $250,000.
This condition of affairs was not changed until after the American occupation. In 1836 when Jacob Primer Leese started the first mercantile establishment in Yerba Buena he may have had some foreshadowing of the possibilities of trade with shipping, but there was no active interest taken in Hawaii, or for that matter in anything or any place outside of California. Leese had been doing business in Monterey in partnership with Nathan Spear and W. S. Hinckley, and was evi- dently gifted with prescience, for he recognized possibilities of development in the new pueblo which were disregarded by most others. When he first made ap- plication to the alcalde and commandante for a location on the beach he was con- fronted with the order directing the setting aside of reservations, but was offered a choice of two other places, one at the mouth of Mission creek and the other near the entrance of the bay, close to the presidio. Subsequently letters given him by Governor Chico procured for him an allotment within the reservation limits, and on the 1st of July, 1836, he took possession of a hundred vara lot, distant about 250 yards from the beach, the spot selected being near to what is now the corner of Clay and Dupont streets.
Leese Starts Store in Yerba Buena
Rivalry of Hawaii
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Leese's establishment was a considerable one for the locality and the stock of goods and its character indicates that he expected a patronage somewhat greater than the insignificant village and the ranches in the immediate vicinity afforded. He was well patronized and the city began to take on an air of business it had not known before his arrival. Captain Richardson had pioneered the way in this vicinity with his two schooners, which, as already stated, gathered hides and tallow and wheat from points about the bay accessible to the rancheros who brought their products to the landings in their rude ox carts and sometimes utilized the Indians as porters.
But Monterey continued to be the most important place in the North several years after Leese had established himself in San Francisco. But the wisdom of his choice was made apparent even before the Americans took possession. The town grew slowly and gradually began to divide the honors with its neighbors to the south. Leese had married a sister of Vallejo who became the mother of the first child born in Yerba Buena. This event occurred April 15, 1838, and was made the occasion for great festivities in which all classes participated. Leese's relations with the Californians were of a friendly nature and his American proclivities were not reck- oned against him. When he celebrated the completion of his store by a house warm- ing in 1836, on the 4th of July of that year, the American and Mexican flags floated side by side over the new structure, and the stars and stripes were hailed with as many vivas as the green, red and white colors of the sister republic. At the banquet, which all the old Spanish families that could reach Yerba Buena attended, the best of feeling prevailed, and no sign of impending trouble made its appearance.
While Yerba Buena made some little progress commercially after the establish- ment of Leese's store its anomolous political condition put it at a disadvantage, even though there was nothing like real rivalry throughout the length and breadth of the province. There was no place in California before 1846 where any con- sideration was given to such matters as public improvements. The open spaces set aside as plazas were in no instance made attractive by shrubbery. If anything. their dedication to public use caused them to be more unlovely than they were when unfrequented. But enterprising men, with a bit of the civic instinct, might have done something in the way of adding to their convenience had they been furnished with the machinery to bring about such a result.
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